The session was opened by the Deputy General Director of Information Technology at PAO Aeroflot, Kirill Bogdanov, who told about the IT strategy of the leading Russian airline. He noted that Aeroflot ranked fourth among the world's largest airlines by the level of digitalization. The сcompany managed to achieve a five-time increase of the transit traffic of passengers by introducing hub management systems. Besides, use of Big Data technology in media advertising brought a tangible financial performance to the Aeroflot group. The senior executive also mentioned that by February the company is going to develop a mobile application providing a ticket exchange, an electronic guide, and a recommendation service based on passengers’ preferences.

Dmitry Krasnov, the Vice President of SITA in Russia and the CIS, explained how biometrics could replace a passport and become a standard in the airline industry in the next five years. Nina Putintseva, a representative of the largest manufacturer of industrial software, told about the use of Oracle technologies in the aviation industry. Her colleague Svetlana Garankina told about the advantages of Internet of Things for airlines.

Iskander Bariev, Vice-Rector, Head of Project Science and Research Affairs of Innopolis University, , spoke at the session as the representative of the University. In his report, he told about the work of the Civil Aviation Centre focused on development of projects to improve flight safety and the availability.

“Aeroflot is a partner of Innopolis University. In the context of our cooperation, we have agreed to share experience and use the University as a platform for interaction with the market. For this reason, we have invited experts of Oracle, Microsoft, HP, Sabre, and other companies to the strategic session so that they could share their best global IT practices and solutions in the aviation industry,” noticed Iskander Bariev. He also mentioned that leadership of the University and senior executives of ‘Aeroflot’ have agreed that the event will be held annually at Innopolis University.

According to the Vice-Rector of Innopolis University, “It is important for the University to establish practical interaction with industrial partners in order to understand the vector of development of companies and to offer innovative products that will help them achieve their goals. We plan to hold similar strategic sessions with other partners.”